A03 approaches psychod
Cards (4)
- A03POINT: A strength of the psychodynamic approach is that it introduced psychotherapyEVIDENCE: Before this approach, mental illnesses were treated physically, rather than psychologicallyEXPLAIN: Psychoanalysis has introduced the idea of ‘talking therapy’ by using different techniques to access the unconsciousLINK: Therefore, this approach was very useful as it created a new method of treating mental illness.
- A03 POINT: However, a limitation of psychoanalysis is that it may only be successful for people with mild neurosesEVIDENCE: For example, it is seen as inappropriate, or even harmful, for people with more serious mental disorders such as schizophreniaEXPLAIN: The symptoms associated with schizophrenia means people have lost their grip with reality and cannot describe their thoughts in the way required by psychoanalysisLINK: Therefore, the psychodynamic approach (and the therapy treatment) may not apply to all mental disorders.
- POINT: Another strength of this approach is its ability to explain human behaviourEVIDENCE: For example, the psychodynamic approach has been used to explain a wide range of phenomenon such as personality development, abnormal behaviour, moral development and gender identityEXPLAIN: Similarly, this approach also highlighted the importance of childhood experiences and later developmentLINK: Therefore, this suggests that the psychodynamic approach has had a positive impact on psychology
- POINT: Finally, one limitation of the psychodynamic approach is that a lot of its theories and concepts are untestableEVIDENCE: For example, this approach does not meet the criteria for scientific research and therefore people cannot falsify itEXPLAIN: Concepts such as the Id are really hard, perhaps impossible, to empirically test as they occur at an unconscious level.LINK: Therefore this shows that the psychodynamic approach is more of a pseudoscience (‘fake’ science) rather than a real science, meaning it may lack credibility.